Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Welcome, Alice! Please share a
little about yourself and what you write.

Thank you so much for having me! I love to write comedic
erotica, or funny smut.

LOL! Sounds great! So, tell us a little about your new release.

Wallbanger is my
newest novel, and I am so pleased to finally be able to share this book with
everyone. Set in one of my all time favorite cities, San Francisco, Wallbanger is the story of Caroline
Reynolds and Simon Parker. When Caroline moves into a new apartment, she is
startled out of bed not by an earthquake, but by some very loud “banging” from
next door. We know it’s Simon over there by the woman that is calling out his
name. Repeatedly. Ahem. With walls this thin, the tension is gonna be thick!

I can’t help but smile reading that description! Which character is
your favorite and why?

I think in this book my favorite character is Jillian, who
is Caroline’s boss and mentor. She is based on a hybrid of two of my mentors
from my former professional career. I was lucky enough to work with some
amazing women, two of whom were as funny as they were smart and they influence
me still to this day. Jillian is a hard worker, but she is open and loving and
warm, with a very smart ass attitude, a dream boss for me.

That’s awesome! As the author, what surprised you about this story?

How much fun I had spending my time with these characters.

*grins* Will there be any sequels or other books in the same series?

No, Wallbanger
stands alone. Like the cheese.

*snort* What was the hardest thing for you about writing this story?

Editing. I removed a character and then put the character
back in at literally the 11th hour, and that was tough. But it
worked out for the best.

I am finishing up Book 3 in The Redhead Series, which I have
been working on for 107 years. And I have started working on something brand
new: cooking and New York City and restaurants and lots and lots of chemistry.

Ooh, sounds promising! What happened to the first book you ever wrote?

Caroline Reynolds has a fantastic new apartment in San
Francisco, a KitchenAid mixer, and no O (and we’re not talking Oprah here,
folks). She has a flourishing design career, an office overlooking the
bay, a killer zucchini bread recipe, and no O. She has Clive (the best cat
ever), great friends, a great rack, and no O.

Adding insult to O-less, since her move, she has an
oversexed neighbor with the loudest late-night wallbanging she’s ever heard.
Each moan, spank, and–was that a meow?–punctuates the fact that not only
is she losing sleep, she still has, yep, you guessed it, no O.

In
her third novel, Alice Clayton returns to dish her trademark mix of silly and
steamy. Banter, barbs, and strutting pussycats, plus the sexiest
apple pie ever made, are dunked in a hot tub and set against the gorgeous
San Francisco skyline in this hot and hilarious tale of exasperation at
first sight.

Excerpt:

I shook my head
at the sight of Simon in a black T-shirt and weathered jeans. He was in his
stocking feet once again, and I marveled at how at ease he seemed in my
kitchen.

I walked around the kitchen counter and picked
up my rolling pin. “You know, I won’t think twice about whacking you over the
head with this if you continue this borderline sexual harassment,” I warned,
running my hand up and down the rolling pin suggestively.

“I’m gonna have to ask you not to do that if
you’re serious about me peeling apples here,” he said, eyes widening.

“I never joke about pie, Simon.” I sprinkled a
little more flour on the marble.

He was silent while he watched me pat out the
pie crust, breathing through his mouth. “So, what are you gonna do with that?”
he asked, his voice low.

“With this?” I asked, leaning over the board,
and perhaps arching my back a little as I did.

“Mmm-hmm,” he replied.

“I’m gonna roll this crust out. See, like this?”
I teased again, thrusting the pin back and forth over the dough, making sure I
arched my back each time and the forward action pushed my girls together.

“Oh my,” he whispered, and I grinned naughtily
at him.

“You gonna be okay over there, big guy? This is
just the top crust, I still need to work on my bottom,” I said over my
shoulder.

His hands clutched at the edge of the counter.
“Apples. Apples. Gonna peel me some apples,” he told himself and turned away
toward the colander filled with apples in the sink.

“Let me just get you the peeler,” I said, coming
up behind him and pressing myself against him as I curled around his side to
grab the vegetable peeler from the other sink. This was fun.

Sunday, November 25, 2012

Happy Sunday everyone! I've got six from my new contemporary romance, One Night with a Hero. Here, a very sick Brady with a scary high fever gets a little TLC from Joss:

Brady
moaned as he sucked on the Popsicle. “This is the best thing I’ve ever eaten.”“Glad
you like it, I slaved all day.”He
swallowed a frozen chunk and said, “When we’re done, wanna have sex?”He waggled his
eyebrows, and Joss burst out laughing. “You’re such an ass.”

Friday, November 23, 2012

Hey guys! I've got something fun for you today! And the best part? Prizes and gifts WITHOUT testy crowds, harried sales clerks, or fighting for parking spaces!!! The Black Friday Hop is just for today, so hop around, comment at each stop for lots of chances for the main prize, and comment HERE for a chance at MY prize: a $20 amazon or B&N gift card!

Before we get to the giveaway, enjoy this short excerpt from my new contemporary romance, One Night with a Hero. A conversation you might overhear if you brave the stores today?:

They
returned to their fitting rooms, and Joss looked at her reflection. Taking a deep
breath, she mentally prepared for the Inquisition. “So,
speaking of dates…” She slipped out of her dress and arranged it on the hanger.

“Oh,
thank God. I seriously wasn’t going to be able to last much longer. What
happened last night?”

Good
question. She
dressed, collected her things and stepped out into the hall, all the while
replaying Brady’s departure in her brain. She and Christina had the whole
fitting room to themselves, so no harm in spilling here. “Well, the abbreviated
version is that I met a guy and hooked up with him last night.”

Christina’s
door flew open. “Define ‘hooked up.’”

Joss
opened her mouth to reply—

“You
had sex!”

“Shh.
Why don’t you just announce it to the whole store, woman? ‘Attention, Macy’s
shoppers, Joss Daniels had sex last night.’ Oh, and this morning.”

Christina
gasped and her eyes went wide. “Good sex?”

Joss
should’ve felt insulted at her amazement, but seeing as she was still kinda
amazed herself, she didn’t. Memories full of Brady’s incredible intensity and
hot, hard body rushed before her mind’s eye. “Mm-hmm. Great sex.”

Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Happy release day to Julieanne Reeves, who's here to celebrate her debut novel Razing Kayne with us, along with an awesome giveaway! Take it away, Julieanne!

It’s here! Launch day for RAZING KAYNE. I’m thrilled to be joining the world of published
authors.

I’ve realized that publishing my book is a lot like the
first day I left my children in daycare. I bawled for hours having to leave
them that day. They, however, barely spared a wave goodbye; they were too
excited to meet and play with their new friends.

I wrote Razing Kayne about two years ago. At the time I
was a 30-something year old adult who’d left the rat race to become been a full-time stay-at-home foster mom. This meant that I usually had four kids in the
house at any given time. Between special education issues, counseling and
doctors' appointments, and life in general, I stayed busy. But, oh, how
rewarding – and heartbreaking – it was. I’d adopted my two children from foster
care as a single mother, and it was, and still is, my greatest accomplishment.
Publishing my books is probably a distant second.

For years prior to being a “mom,” I’d worked for in law
enforcement as a police/fire/911 dispatcher who’d been trained and certified in
hostage negotiation and suicide intervention. Working in a small agency allowed
me the opportunity to work closely with the Special Response Team, Narcotics
Task Force officers and Property and Person’s detectives. Heck, I’d even
applied and been accepted to test for the police academy. I passed the testing
though never went through the academy. Experiences I never would have had
working in a big agency.

Looking at all my experience – personal and professional
– and thinking through the cases I’d been involved with, and remembering the
ones I’d heard about, I realized I had a treasure trove of inspiration. So, I
did what my high school creative writing teacher drilled into me; I wrote what
I knew and did it from the heart. Thus, RAZING KAYNE was born.

It would take two more years and lots of encouragement
from my online friends before I finally got up the nerve to publish it. I
wasn’t ready to say goodbye to this family I’d created.

Now that moment is here, and I’m a bundle of emotions. Saying
goodbye is never easy even in the land of fiction. It’s a little easier knowing
I haven’t seen the last of Kayne and Jessica and their wonderful children. In
Razing Kayne we met some awesome supporting heroes: Officer Nick Astenbeck,
Detectives Trace St.Moritz and Rafe Chatham, Dr. Mark Oberly, and Fire-medic
Joe Sutton. They will be getting their own stories over the next couple years.
Payson, Arizona is a small town in real life and in fiction so I know we’ll be
seeing the whole gang around from time to time. Is it the same? No. But just
like I had to let my children go that first day of daycare, it’s time to let
RAZING KAYNE go too.

I hope you enjoy RAZING KAYNE as much as I enjoyed
writing it and I hope you come back to share in the small town life of Payson,
Arizona as each of the other heroes gets their own Happily Ever Afters.

For two years, State Trooper Kayne Dobrescu has wanted
only one thing: to understand why his wife inexplicably killed their children
and then herself. Memories haunt his days and lay siege to his nights, leaving
him questioning his reasons for living.

Jessica Hallstatt became a window and single mother the
night her firefighter husband died in a fiery explosion at an accident scene.
While her husband may have died a hero, he left Jessica with deep emotional
scars that haven’t begun to heal.

When Kayne accepted a transfer to the mountain town of
Payson, Arizona, he never expected to meet anyone like Jessica. From the moment
he pulled her over for speeding, he was drawn in by her whiskey-colored eyes
and sassy dimple. He knows she and her children are a forever type package, and
he’s vowed never to give anyone the power to destroy him again. Yet fate has
other ideas, throwing Kayne and Jessica together in a fight against an unknown
enemy to save the life of a child—and hopefully one another.

Giveaway!

Leave a comment with your email address below and be entered to win an e-copy of Razing Kayne. One lucky winner –
worldwide – will be randomly drawn on or about Friday, November 23rd,
2012. Winner will be announced in the comments so please be sure to check back.

Want to read an
excerpt? Go here for
the Prologue and first two chapters.

Sunday, November 18, 2012

Happy Sunday everyone! Today I've got six more from my new contemporary romance, One Night with a Hero! This is the moment immediately after Brady and Joss have sex for the second time:

Running
on pure instinct now, Brady stepped back and helped her down. Her knees went
soft when she hit the floor, so he scooped her into his arms and made his way
through the house and upstairs to where her bathroom should be. She was warm
and pliant in his arms and the sensation of her nuzzling into the crook of his
neck shouldn’t have felt as good as it did.The
monster of his ancient anger stalked back and forth at the gates of his mind.
But he was ignoring that motherfucker for all he was worth.Because,
since he never allowed himself this—any of this, really—he had no idea how
fucking good it could all feel, right down to her arms holding him.

Don't forget to visit the Other Sixers' Posts and follow the #sixsunday hashtag on Twitter! Thanks for reading and hopefully commenting, too! And for those who celebrate it, have a wonderful Thanksgiving this Thursday!

Thursday, November 15, 2012

I'm pleased to welcome Mina back to the blog today to celebrate the release of a new story and the birthday of her first book, The Djinn's Dilemma. Mina has a giveaway and a great topic for us, so here she is...

How Stories
Get Written

I was
recently reading an interview by Khaled Hosseini about writing and he mentioned
that he’d intended his debut book The Kite Runnerto be a simple,
nostalgic short story about two boys and their love of kite flying.

Instead, it
turned into this mega-successful, dark and poignant literary novel that grabs
hold of readers’ hearts and squeezes.

Hosseini
explained the change with: “But stories have a will of their own….”

Such true words.

When I first
started thinking of writing The Djinn’s
Dilemma, my debut story, about an assassin who falls for his target, I had
a very different vision for it. Originally the
assassin was a cynical, aloof woman and it was going to be straight forward
romantic suspense. Nothing paranormal about it, and definitely no genies
involved. Ha!

Not one but
two genies showed up, and the assassin turned into smoking hot male…yeah, I
quit complaining at that point and just wrote. And I ended up having an exhilarating
adventure with flying genies, ricocheting bullets, and dangerous magic.

If I hadn’t
gone with the story’s will, I wouldn’t be here today celebrating the first
birthday of The Djinn’s Dilemma with an
awesome birthday bash full of SurPrizes (including a special Sherrilyn
Kenyon package, exotic art and more!). Make sure you check it out!

But sometimes
stories push us out of our comfort zone and into unchartered territories. That
can be scary. Very scary. Such was the case with my multicultural short, Dead: A Ghost Story.

Unlike my
other published stories, Dead is NOT a romance. In it, Nasreen, the
Indian-American protagonist, grapples with her life and death in West Texas.

Dead was
inspired by the many immigrant wives I met during my time as a business
reporter in West Texas. For the most part these women are invisible to the
mainstream society for various reasons – language barriers, isolation, and
unfamiliarity with their adopted country’s laws and social mores etc. So this
story was written to recognize them and to highlight a usually silent part of
the immigrant experience.

I have
readers who love my genie romances, so why not write another one instead of
trying on a completely different genre? Because the idea of all the invisible
Nasreens in the world sort of haunted me until I’d written the story. In doing
so, I discovered a different side of myself, a new voice inside.

Giveaway!

Thanks for
visiting with me! Don’t forget to check out the #DjinnsDilemmaBirthdayBash…also
share a comment with your thoughts about stories and leave your email
address…and you may be randomly chosen to receive a Kindle edition of Dead: A
Ghost Story. Open to international. Ends midnight EST November 19.

Author Bio:

Mina Khan is
a Texas-based writer and food enthusiast. She grew up in Bangladesh on
stories of djinns (pronounced "gins"), ghosts and monsters. These
childhood fancies now color her fiction. She daydreams of hunky paranormal
heroes, magic, mayhem and mischief and writes them down as tales of romance and
adventure. Her first
published work, The Djinn's Dilemma, won the novella category of the 2012
Romance Through The Ages (published) contest.

Fifty percent
of the proceeds from her second novella, A Tale of Two Djinns, is donated to
UNICEF for education. Two Djinns is a Romeo & Juliet tale with genies,
feminists and a happy ending.

Sunday, November 11, 2012

Happy Sunday everyone! I have so so much to celebrate this week! My new contemporary romance, One Night with a Hero, hit the USA Today Bestseller List at #50 and the New York Times eBook Fiction List at #19 (combined print/eBook List at #26)!!! It's so amazing! In this six, Joss and Brady have just finished having sex in what's supposed to be a one-night stand...

It was a moment more quietly intimate, with Brady still inside her and his arms around her, than any other she could recall. Just then, she would’ve sworn she’d known him for years.He kissed her forehead.A tight sting settled behind her eyes.Hell, no! Do not cry on the sex god Special Forces soldier after he just gave you the orgasm of your life.

Friday, November 9, 2012

I'm excited to be one of the 120+ participants in the Men & Women of the Military Giveaway Hop! Thanks for stopping in!I'm in the middle of celebrating the release of One Night with a Hero, the second in my Heroes series featuring military heroes. For the hop, I thought I'd introduce you to my heroes, then share my giveaway...

From Her Forbidden Hero...meet Marco Vieri

"Marco stepped into the light. Her gaze drank him in. He carried a cardboard box in his hands, heavy enough to pop out the biceps under his short-sleeve T-shirt. The last time she’d seen him, he’d been on leave between deployments and he’d been wearing camouflage—“drop-dead sexy” was the only way to describe him in uniform. Now, his brown hair was longer and messy on top, as if he’d run his fingers through it, but he still looked every bit the soldier he’d been. He hiked up the box and it pulled at the hem of his shirt, exposing a thin slice of lean abdomen. Her eyes trailed down over a pair of black jeans that hugged him in all the right places."

From One Night with a Hero...meet Brady Scott"Tall. Built. Light-brown hair kissed by the sun with a hint of blond. All that lean, bare muscle. The way his running shorts had hung low enough to reveal the cut of his hips. Sex on a freaking stick.And a soldier to boot. Bet he looked seriously fine in his dress uniform. Panties probably dropped at the mere sight—thongs, too. Maybe even like the one she was currently wearing."

and also:

"Brady’s big body filled the rectangular space of
the doorway, and he stood before her in full dress uniform. Rows of ribbons and
badges decorated the space over his heart. The beret he wore bore an orange
shield with a sword atop crossed arrows. She soaked him in from head to toe
before meeting his gaze. God, he was so freaking gorgeous."

There are two prizes, both open to international, so there will be two winners: one will win a $5 Amazon or B&N gift card [Congrats Donna S.!] and the other a heart necklace stamped with "courage" [Congrats Lisa G.!] ~ representing an important element from One Night with a Hero. Good luck!

Monday, November 5, 2012

Oh, look, it's Monday, so that makes it time for a Manday Hottie!!!Even though I'm in the throes of celebrating One Night with a Hero, my contemporary romance with hot military heroes, I have to throw some Manday love in another direction today.Namely, the Black Dagger Brotherhood's Qhuinn. Qhuinn's father is Lohstrong, leahdyre of the glymera, who doesn't accept his son because of his "imperfect" mismatched eyes.I. Love. Qhuinn.Well, as you know, I love me the whole dang brotherhood. But today it's Qhuinn who's got me all in a dither. Here's why... Prepare for the stare:

Ya'll know I have a thing for mismatched eyes! (North of Need's Owen... In the Service of the King's Shayla...) Put them on a tortured alpha hero bad-ass vampire warrior, and I am No. More. Good. More imaginings of Qhuinn:

Credit to mistymerrymistletoe

March 26, people. That's like, 8,000 years away! Sigh. AND, I won't even be able to read it when it releases since I have a big book due on April 1. But you can bet your bippy Lover at Last is going to be my reward for turning that book into my editor!!!Anyone else looking forward to Qhuinn and Blay getting their happily ever after???Thanks for reading!Laura

Sunday, November 4, 2012

Happy Sunday everyone! I've got six from my new contemporary romance, One Night with a Hero. Brady's feeling the impact of kissing Joss...

Brady
was no stranger to women, but this one was full of contradictions that drove
him wild. She had a smart mouth and a sharp wit, but blushed in a way that revealed
vulnerability. She gave off an untouchable vibe, but jumped into him at the
sound of fireworks. With the tattoos, pink highlights, and tongue piercing, she
came off as rebellious, but she worked with kids. Joss was like a puzzle with
ever-changing pieces, and it threw him off-kilter, made him feel like he was on
a collision course he couldn’t avoid and wouldn’t want to anyway. The desperate
noises she made, the enthusiastic sway and press of her curves, her futile
effort to grasp and tug at his short hair—he’d remember the sound and feel of
her for a long time.

Saturday, November 3, 2012

Elizabeth is celebrating a new paranormal series with us today, so here's more about her new books!

Descent of Blood, The Red Veil Series, The Prequel

When times are darkest, some vampires desire more than
blood …England, 1465. Mortal men clash in the War of the Roses
for the English crown, while vampire warriors’ move undetected among their
ranks, savoring the flow of blood that battlefields provide.Vampire prince, Severian Pearce, fears the revelation of
the immortal clans to humankind should King Henry fall from power. While in
pursuit of Henry’s enemies, Severian comes to the aid of Meridian Neville, a
human woman he craves—and not for the scent of her blood … Meridian is torn
between honoring her father’s dying wish and her unexplainable yearning for
Lord Severian. But as Severian and Meridian work together to protect a relic
hunted by mortals and immortals alike, the red veil descends over them. This
all-consuming attraction can drive immortals to the brink of madness. Will the
existence of this powerful bond between a human and a vampire be enough to unite
the immortal clans or is the red veil a scourge set on destroying any chance
they might have of happiness?When
all hope is lost, one vampire will fight unto death for his forbidden love.

Sometimes, love is conceived in the mind of a man long
before it is ever realized.1990,
Cardiff, Wales. Vampire prince,
Sebastian Pearce, has waited six-hundred years for the right human mate. His
own beloved mother was a mortal capable of carrying immortal offspring. While
vampires no longer require live donors for sustenance, Mother Nature has played
a cruel trick on them … making breeders a rare commodity. As numbers in his
Imperial House dwindle, Sebastian’s virgin bride eludes him, until he happens
upon a young woman searching for information about a sacred vampire text, the
Book of Descent. Sebastian’s desire for her is more potent than anything he’s
felt for another woman, but Everleigh Marbut isn’t innocent. She’s an American
with a mind of her own, and worst of all, she’s already carrying an immortal
being. Sebastian and Everleigh are so intent on fighting their attraction to
each other and the influence of the red veil that they don’t realize they’re
being pulled into a battle pitting medieval myth against the power of modern
science to recreate life.

About Elizabeth:

Windy City writer Elizabeth Marx brings cosmopolitan
flair to her fiction, which is a blend of romance and fast-paced Chicago living
with a sprinkle of magical realism. In her past incarnation she was an interior
designer--not a decorator--which basically means she has a piece of paper to
prove that she knows how to match and measure things and can miraculously make mundane
pieces of furniture appear to be masterpieces. Elizabeth says being an interior
designer is one part shrink, one part marriage counselor and one part artist,
skills eerily similar to those employed in writing.

Elizabeth grew up in Illinois and has also lived in Texas
and Florida. If she’s not pounding her head against the wall trying to get the
words just right, you can find her at a softball field out in the boonies or
sitting in the bleachers by a basketball court. Elizabeth resides with her
husband, girls, and two cats who’ve spelled everyone into believing they’re
really dogs.

Elizabeth has traveled extensively, but still says there’s
no town like Chi-Town.

Friday, November 2, 2012

I'm very excited to announce the winners of the PLAYERS AND HEROES giveaway that Jennifer L. Armentrout and I ran this past week! We had so much fun playing with everyone who turned out for the event. Without further ado...the winners are:

Request an Authorgraph!

Visitors

Proud to Support...

Member of The Romance Reviews!

CoffeeTime Romance!

STOP EBOOK PIRACY

Support Your Favorite Authors! Buy Books, Don't Use Illegal Share Sites! All books (including e-books) have a copyright. If you're caught uploading, transferring, selling, copying or sharing an e-book, you can be fined $250,000. E-piracy is the same as stealing. Please support all authors in their fight against the dreaded e-piracy and say "NO" to anyone offering you a free copy of an e-book (other than an author).

About Me

GIVEAWAY RULES

Giveaways and sweepstakes sponsored on this website require no purchase necessary and are open for entry to anyone living in the United States or Canada (unless noted otherwise) and must be 18 to enter. Giveaway rules may vary, please contact website administrator for more information. Giveaways sponsored by guest bloggers are the responsibility of the guest blogger, and this site is not responsible for undelivered prizes.